


Under the weather

by yogini



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Short & Sweet, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-01 14:31:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8628127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yogini/pseuds/yogini
Summary: When the seasonal weather and his own sense of loyalty (and occasionally Merlin’s clumsiness) makes Leon feel under the weather, Arthur takes care of him. Basically TLC fluff. Modern AU, Arthur/Leon.+ second chapter with Leon kidnapping an overworked Arthur for his own good...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EmmyRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmyRose/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin or any of the characters in the series, I'm just borrowing them from their respective owners to play with a little and I promise to give them back when I'm done. No copyright infringement is intended and I don't make any money from writing fanfiction.

Winter

 

“You idiot, what were you thinking?” Arthur barked out, noticing in the corner of his eye that the nurse regarded him with a look of utter disapproval. Clearly, as it was generally considered bad bedside manners to yell at a patient at a hospital but Arthur was too worried to be able to stop himself and reacted the same way he always did, with anger. That’s what his father had done when he grew up and that’s what he did now, yelled at someone instead of telling them how worried he’d been.

“You shouldn’t have been out driving, it’s a bloody snow storm going on!”  
“I’d promised” Leon protested. “I’d promised to come by and help you to pack.” So he had, and he was apparently too loyal and too kind to back out that promise, never mind that there was a blizzard outside. Arthur didn’t know whether to applaud or scold him for it.

“Screw the packing, you… you could’ve died!” Arthur was shaking as he sank down to sit in the chair beside the hospital bed and he put his head in his hands. He still remembered how it felt when the call came through, a police officer telling him that his boyfriend had been involved in a car accident and was currently on his way to the hospital. He’d frozen for many long seconds before leaping into action and barking out orders for meetings to be rescheduled, work to be distributed and a taxi to be ordered. Then he’d spent the entire way to the hospital yelling at the driver to go faster before yelling at the receptionist to type quicker and tell him what room Leon was in and it was only now that he saw his boyfriend, tired, pale and with bruises on his face that he felt the adrenaline leaving him. A hand touched his knee lightly and Arthur jerked upright, his eyes finding the tired one’s of Leon.  
“Arthur, I’m all right” he said and Arthur half-laughed, half-sobbed.

“No, you’re not” he answered, taking Leon’s hand between his own two and feeling relived when he felt the familiar warmth. “You have a broken leg and a concussion and god knows what else.” Arthur hadn’t really listened beyond the words ‘full recovery’ after he’d stormed into the room but he knew that it was a small miracle that the man wasn’t more injured than he was. “But you will be. You will be all right.” He placed a light kiss on Leon’s knuckles. “I’ll make sure of it.”

 

Spring

 

“I thought it’d be a warm day” Leon said between clattering teeth and Arthur all but dragged him in the direction of the bathroom, leaving small puddles of water in their wake. “It looked nice this morning.”

“It’s bloody April and the weather’s completely unstable. Why didn’t you bring an umbrella, or at least a jacket?” Arthur grumbled as he helped undress his shivering boyfriend whose fingers didn’t seem to be working well enough at the moment to undo the button of his jeans. “Or why didn’t you tell me to come bring you something?”

“You were working” Leon answered, leaning heavily against Arthur as he lifted one leg after the other to step out of his trousers. His shirt was completely soaked through and his blonde hair was plastered against his head and Arthur bundled him into the shower as quickly as he could, turning the temperature up as much as he dared without burning his boyfriend.

“Get in, you idiot” he said, but he did it with affection. What else could he do with a man who’d just spent the better part of the day outside, raising money to the local animal shelter before walking home in a torrential downpour, not calling anyone to pick him up because he didn’t want anyone to drive in that weather?

 

As Leon got warmed up in the shower Arthur threw the clothes in the washing machine, made some tea and scrounged up all the blankets that he could find. Then he turned the TV on, settling for a re-run of a show that they’d already seen years ago and wouldn’t require a lot of attention from them, and waited for his boyfriend to join him on the sofa. Later, when Leon dozed on his shoulder, Arthur snuggled deeper down beneath the blankets, wondering how someone who was as good at caring for others could be so completely unable to take care of himself.

 

Summer

 

“You’re not feeling too well, are you?” Arthur sighed and Leon shook his head weakly. “Why didn’t you tell me you started feeling ill?” Leon looked away, mumbling something, and Arthur fought the urge to hit him over the head. He knew that Leon was sensitive about the fact that he didn’t do too well when it was hot outside, that he didn’t want to come across as an old man that needed to get out of the sun and lie down in the shade, but the result in front of him wasn’t all that good either. No sooner had they gotten back from their beach picnic and volley ball game before Leon all but ran to the bathroom and threw up. Now he was curled up on the tiled floor looking worse for wear, all clammy and pale despite the sun, and Arthur couldn’t bear to see him like that.

“Let’s get you cooled off, shall we?” he suggested and more or less hauled his boyfriend to his feet. He poured Leon a glass of water to rinse his mouth and turned the shower on as chilly as he dared.

“I’m sorry” Leon offered, looking rather pitiful when his hands were so unsteady that he almost dropped the glass and forced Arthur to catch it quickly before it fell. Arthur sighed and presses a quick kiss to his temple.

“Don’t be. But tell me next time, instead of getting a heatstroke. Do you still feel sick?”  
“A little. Mostly tired. And I have a headache.” Arthur checked the temperature of the shower, undressed and manoeuvred the two of them inside.

 

When they’d towelled off and rested on the bed, the AC keeping the room nice and cool, Arthur ran his fingers through Leon’s still damp curls as the other man slowly fell asleep. When his breathing was deep and even Arthur carefully wriggled out of his boyfriend’s arms and snuck out of the room. He got some fruit, a bottle of water and a couple of painkillers that he placed on the nightstand. Leon wouldn’t have to get up and search for anything when he woke up needing it.

 

Autumn 

 

”How exactly did this happen?” Arthur asked, genuinely confused.

“I, uh, fell” Leon admitted sheepishly. “Slipped on the ice.”

“That much I gathered.” Arthur deadpanned and let his gaze linger on Leon’s heavily wrapped ankle. “But what I don’t get is how you could’ve slipped and fallen on ice when there’s no ice outside. It’s barely October yet.” Arthur suddenly realized something. “Oh no, don’t tell me that you…”

“I did” Leon admitted wryly.  
“And why on god’s green earth would you ever agree to that?” Arthur groaned exasperated. Merlin had been pestering Arthur for months to come with him to the ice rink and practice skating before winter came, because he’d somehow gotten stuck on the idea of taking Gwaine on a romantic date. Apparently that was something that called for ice skating on a lake close o Ealdor, just the two of them, on a moonlit night under the stars with hot chocolate and marshmallows and all the rest. He’d described it often enough and in such vivid detail that Arthur felt like he’d already been there. The problem with such a fine idea was that Merlin couldn’t skate to save his own life, let alone avoid injuring anyone who was unfortunate enough to be around him when he tried. When Arthur categorically had refused he’d focused his efforts on Leon instead, who lacked both the ability to say no to Merlin and a sense of self-preservation. And somehow, while trying to teach Merlin how to skate the bumbling idiot had managed to overturn them both and when they had untangled all limbs it was clear that Leon wouldn’t do any more teaching that day. Or any other day soon. Or walking at all for that matter.

“I’m going to kill him” Arthur growled and whipped out his phone. It didn’t really matter how sorry Merlin might be, Leon’s ankle was still badly sprained and their weekend plans were ruined.

“He’s already apologized about a million times” Leon said, wrestling the phone away from Arthur who huffed but complied. He’d yell at Merlin at work instead, when Leon couldn’t stop him.

 

They went ahead with their weekend plans and drove to the cottage anyway but the weather ended up being autumn’s worst nightmare the whole time and they couldn’t have spent much time outside even if Leon hadn’t been injured. The rain poured down, making the ground a sea of mud and too slippery for walks. Instead they stayed inside, talked and just enjoyed each other’s company. Arthur cooked nice meals and forbade Leon to help with the dishes. And when they cuddled in front of a roaring fire, the flames creating a shadowy dance on the walls of the living room, Arthur realized that he didn’t mind all that much that Leon was temporarily unable to walk. It made it easier to take care of him.


	2. Chapter 2

”You’re working too much, Arthur” Leon said, appearing in the doorway to the home office and Arthur resisted the urge to throw the laptop at his boyfriend to shut him up. But he knew that it wouldn’t be fair to do that to Leon since he only did it because he cared. Also, he needed the laptop to work. Annoyed he sent the e-mail that he’d been working on and turned to look at his boyfriend.

”Leon, this merger is the most important thing that has happened in the history of the company. We need it to work.” Arthur wasn’t lying. Without the merger the company would most probably not have existed in a couple of years. Uther had built a successful company but he’d not been able adapt to the ever changing market, looking at new technology with suspicion and disregarding new demands from customers. Arthur had faced an enormous task when he took over after Uther’s retirement, both because of the competition from other companies and from those who missed the good old days when Uther was in charge. Now it seemed like they were on the right way but it had been a bumpy ride to get there.

“I know that.” Leon knew only too well, in fact. Arthur had stopped at nothing to make the merger successful and had practically lived at the office for months, and what little time he had at home was spent in the home office instead. Leon had practically felt like a bachelor again, he’d had the whole apartment to himself most of the time and would get laid occasionally, if he could distract Arthur from his phone, tablet, laptop and briefcase full of reports. Once he’d even turned off their internet to force Arthur to stop working and get some sleep. He understood the importance of the merger, but he also knew that by now most of the work was done and people had started to get comfortable in their new roles. The problem was that Arthur didn’t dare to trust that the process would go smoothly from now on, he still insisted on being in control and refused to delegate tasks to others for fear that something would go wrong. He was going to make himself sick at this rate and Leon was tired of watching the crazy train continuing at breakneck speed towards disaster.

“But I also know that most of the work is done now and everything doesn’t depend on you, you could take some time off. Do something else than working. I’m worried about you, about your health and you’re clearly… not listening” Leon finished with a sigh. Arthur was once again completely absorbed by his laptop screen and had forgotten the rest of the world. Leon squared his shoulders and turned to leave. He’d get Arthur to take some time off work, no matter what it took.

 

After a week of careful planning and conspiring with Arthur’s colleagues, (Merlin had been particularly helpful in manipulating Arthur’s schedule and Lancelot had promised to hold the fort while he was gone), it was show time and Leon swung by the office at lunch time. He managed to get his protesting boyfriend in the car with the promise that lunch wouldn’t take more than an hour and that the restaurant was close by. Sulkily Arthur agreed and curled up in the passenger’s seat, ready to get some work done on the way there. Leon got in the driver’s seat, locked the doors and steeled himself.

“Arthur, I just want to say that I’m sorry but I’m doing this for your own good.”

Arthur was too distracted to really listen, trying intently to scroll through an impossibly long e-mail conversion to decide whether or not he actually needed to do something about the issue or just keep himself informed. Suddenly the cell phone was plucked from his grasp, a metallic snick was heard and his wrists were surrounded by something cold.

“What the fuck?” he swore _incredulously_ , looking up and trying to pull himself free simultaneously. “Did you just _handcuff_ me to the door handle?”

“Oh yes, I absolutely did” Leon smirked and pulled away from the curb. They were going to have a quiet weekend in the cottage whether Arthur liked to or not.

 

After half an hour Arthur had both raged, reasoned and tried to alert members of the public to get himself out of the situation. Nothing had worked so far and he was running out of options fast when Leon pulled over at a fast food restaurant. Maybe he could get the attention of the cashier and end this ridiculous charade once and for all. He needed to get back to work as fast as possible. Leon ordered for both of them but when they pulled up to pay and receive their food Arthur had his chance. While Leon was busy paying he leaned over to catch her attention and, sure enough, when she looked into the car her eyes widened as she saw the handcuffs.

“Sir, are you…?” she began to ask but Leon interrupted her smoothly.

“We’re getting away for the weekend. Just the two of us, if you know what I mean?” he smiled and the girl suddenly realized what was going on. 

“You mean…?” she asked. “Oh. _Oh_ , I see.” Smiling she put the last burger in the paper bag and closed it. “Well, have fun you two” she winked, handing them their food and Arthur cursed loudly as Leon pulled out of the drive thru and away from possible rescue. Was it too much to ask that someone called the police when he was being _kidnapped_? But he was also too tired to stay awake after he’d eaten his lunch and as the car rolled steadily towards the cottage he was lulled to sleep.

 

The next morning he woke up in bed, with no recollection whatsoever of getting there, and thanked the fates that he had a boyfriend strong enough to haul his sleeping form out of the car without waking him. They spent the whole weekend lazing around doing nothing and Arthur’s phone was securely locked away the whole time. Also, they managed to be rather creative when it came to figuring out alternative uses for those handcuffs.


End file.
